Shammi Kapoor excited about working with grandson Ranbir

Mumbai: Bollywood`s veteran actor Shammi Kapoor has said that he is upbeat to appear along with his 27-year-old grandson Ranbir Kapoor in Imtiaz Ali`s upcoming film `Rockstar`.

Shammi Kapoor, who was the chief guest at the third convocation ceremony of Whistling Woods International, a film institute in Mumbai, said his falling health couldn’t impede his excitement to get back to work after 10 years.

"For me that is a great experience for the simple fact that I haven’t worked for 10 years or so now. I haven’t faced the camera not the professional ones and I am an ailing man, I undergo dialysis thrice a week," said Shammi Kapoor.

"I have been suffering to that extent and I am disabled, I am on wheelchair as you can see but to me it is a great feeling like a window opening, a possibility for me to go out there and do it all over again," he added.

Filmmakers Shekhar Kapoor and Subhash Ghai also attended the convocation ceremony along with Oscar winning lyrist Gulzar on Saturday.

"I always thought that cinema has been going on in Mumbai for so long, studios have been built, but no such platform was built like you have a campus where you spend two years and you gain general knowledge on filmmaking, film appreciation, media studies," said Ghai.

"My main objective was to allow one to discover oneself," he added.

Internationally acclaimed Bollywood filmmaker Shekhar Kapoor, who has directed films like Elizabeth, Golden Age and Bandit Queen, said he has never been to the film institute.

"I been to film school and now I feel that if I get an opportunity then I would like to go to school. I have missed out on something, missed out on the theatrical and the ability to experiment with cinema," said Shekhar Kapoor.

"Since I have been making cinema, I always had the burden that it has to be released, it has to be commercial. I have started making short films to release that burden," he added.